Money Matters

Alrighty, so, assuming I get this job, and work at it for all 6 months. I am currently in debt to the tune of $10584, broken down as follows:
$185.00
$272.00 - currently being handled by a law firm
$320.00
$1778.00
$1808.00 - currently being handled by a law firm
$2134.00
$4087.00
If I arranged with each company to accept payment plans, I would try to get the first 3 on 12-month plans, the next 3 on 24 month plans, and the final one on a 48 month plan, thus keeping my total debt payments per month at $391.24, which is quite manageable. I don't know if they would accept such a plan, but I believe that most, if not all, would. Now, the trick part is the next part. I would attempt to get them to agree that after making 3 consecutive on-time payments, all of my future payments count TOWARDS my credit. In other words, the first 3 have no effect on my credit score, but AFTER that, the fact that I'm making my payments on time would improve my score, so that I could get my credit back in order and continue with my life. If I could get all that (a big IF), during the 6 months I hold down this contract job I would pay $2347.44 towards the debts, leaving 8236.56... BUT my credit score should be much higher, because I would have made 21 "positive" payments to improve my credit.

The minimum I will make at this job is $12.00/hr for 40 hours a week. My monthly expenses are as follows:
$550 rent/utils
$150 car insurance
$100 food
$100 gas
$8.33 cell phone
This means I spend $908.33 per month just to live, or $5449.98 through all 6 months. There are a few one-time only expenses that are coming up... probably around $400 for Stormy's shots and surgery, and about $350 for my Disney annual pass renewal, and $60 to complete my vehicle registration for this year, and $400 for my visit to Seattle. Assuming losing 20% of my income to taxes, and the standard 4.3 weeks in a month, the least I could come out of the job with in savings (assuming no unexpected expenses come up in the meantime) is $2899.78. Sounds pretty bad, but if I stick it out for the full 6 months I should also be getting my $0.50 completion bonus. I don't know if this would be taxed, but assuming it is it'll still bring me up to $3312.58 in savings at the end.

That's still not much, but considering it would be pure savings, that's better than I was when I left NCA, and I hadn't paid off any debts nor repaired any of my credit at that point.

Now, assuming a best case scenario of 10 hrs a week overtime (say I work Saturdays), I could come out of the 6 months with $7130.98 in savings. Big difference, huh?

Ok, so split the difference, say I come out with an actual $5221.78 in savings. I've completed a 6 month assignment for TEKSystems, and they have offices in every major city in the US. I can now ask them to find me any kinda job that I'm qualified for in any city in the US. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that I've managed to get my A+ and Net+. Without my MCSA/MCSE, I should still be able to land a job in the $25k-30k range doing tech support or some such. Those jobs exist EVERYWHERE, and there's never a downtime when there aren't any open. The FDN job is roughly $25k-35k depending on how much overtime I get, so money-wise it wouldn't be much of a change. I'd be able to stay on track with clearing my debts, and put away about $5-10k a year, depending on how frugally I want to live. That would mean a Mazda3 in 2-3 years from right now. Does the van have 2-3 years left in it? Especially if those years include a cross-country drive with a trailer and a full load of stuff? I guess if need be I could load it on a train, so it wouldn't have to make the drive, or tow it behind a UHaul. Say I can actually move for $1000, but that my rent where I move to is double what it is here? No, I'd definitly need a roommate sorta situation for it to be feasible. Jen? Pat? You two said something about each having a spare couch? ;)

Alright, enough wandering... bottom line is... even with the nice financial cushion I will get from 6 months work, it won't be enough to clear my debts by a long shot, all I can hope it will do is get my credit back on track. And at the end of the 6 months, I really won't be able to move to the west coast unless I have gotten more than just my A+. I'm gonna need some big-time certifications and as much on-the-job putzing around with the FDN tech support people as I can possibly get, because to make this work I'll need to be able to land a $40k+ job. God that's a scary thought. Not the money, but the responsability, and the sheer amount of knowledge and experience I would expect myself to have to consider myself worth that kinda money. But what THAT means, is that while I'm working as many hours as I can at FDN including nights and weekends, I have to make time to take a semester at Volusia Community College for my MCSA or MCSE. I need to talk to TEKSystems, see what they think of my plans (such as they are), see what advice and light they can shed on it all.

Gah! 2:00am, I have a 10:30am interview, and I'm wide awake, shaking like a leaf inside because I'm so damn nervous about everything right now... I just know that something's gonna happen, and I really can't afford that. I refuse to find myself at 30 years old sitting on my butt here in FL hopping from one random job to another every few months, still driving the Mini-Van, and without a decent guy in sight. : That's what really scares me... the fact that at 20 I told myself that by 25 I'd have a great career, I'd be married, I'd be living somewhere cool, and I'd have a more than comfortable income between myself and my husband... I'd be traveling, seeing the WORLD, and loving every minute of life. And here I am at 25, hopping from temp job to temp job, TRYING to pay back debts that it only took me 3 months to accumulate more than 3 years ago, stuck living on other people's leases and with never enough money to go out and do anything enjoyable, and worst of all I'm alone.

You know what? Fuck you Murphey. I want a do-over.